Italian politician Silvio Berlusconi has said he has rekindled his old friendship with Russian president Vladimir Putin, exchanging gifts and “sweet letters”, according to a recording leaked on Tuesday in which he also expresses dismay at Italy’s military support for Ukraine.
“Putin sent me 20 bottles of vodka and a very sweet letter for my birthday,” Berlusconi, who turned 86 last month, is heard saying in the audio recording published by Italian news agency LaPresse.
The former prime minister, whose Forza Italia party is part of Giorgia Meloni’s rightwing coalition and set to join the government, tells a member of parliament from his party that he responded with an “equally sweet note” and bottles of Lambrusco wine, he says.
Forza Italia was quick to deny that the billionaire media tycoon had re-established his old friendship with the Russian leader, with whom he once had strong political ties and also spent holidays.
In a statement, the party said Berlusconi had been “reminiscing” with his MPs about an episode from many years ago, not sharing recent events.
But in the recording, Berlusconi also frets about Italy’s military support for Ukraine, saying he was “very, very, very concerned” at Italy’s tough stand against Moscow.
“The Russian ministers said we are already at war with them because we supply arms and funding to Ukraine,” he is heard saying.
He added: “I cannot express my opinion otherwise it gets leaked to the press and would be a disaster.”
Berlusconi’s claims to have exchanged missives with Putin come after days of tensions with Meloni over cabinet minister appointments that prompted him to describe the prospective prime minister as “arrogant and offensive”.
His latest comments — suggesting the rekindling of his bromance with Putin — will only heighten simmering concerns about Italy’s future foreign policy direction and its approach to the war in Ukraine, once a Meloni government takes over.
Though Meloni has fiercely criticised Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the two allies on whom her coalition will depend — Berlusconi and Matteo Salvini of the League — are both longstanding Putin admirers who have made clear their discomfort with the EU’s tough stance towards Moscow.
On the campaign trail in the run-up to last month’s polls, Salvini complained repeatedly about the high price Italians are paying for sanctions against Russia.
Just two days before the vote, Berlusconi appeared to defend the Russian invasion of Ukraine, telling a television interviewer that Putin “only wanted to replace [Ukrainian president Volodymyr] Zelenskyy with a government made up of decent people” but had then encountered “unexpected resistance”.
In the days after her election victory, Meloni spoke to Zelenskyy to reassure him of Italy’s continued support for the fight against Russia.
But many fear her dependence on her coalition partners will lead to the government softening its policy towards the Kremlin, in contrast to the hardline stand against the invasion taken by current premier Mario Draghi.
Forza Italia said the party’s position on “the Ukrainian conflict and Russian responsibility is known to all [and] is in line with the position of Europe and the United States”.
Additional reporting by Giuliana Ricozzi
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